Legacy
by The Creepy-Psycho-Loner
Summary: They weren't babies anymore, just as he wasn't just a rat, anymore. (2k3, disgustingly fluffy)


**Legacy** By The Creepy-Psycho-Loner

 **Disclaimer** : All characters, places, etc are not owned by me. I simply do the plot.

 **AN** : I probably should focus on my other stories but **plot bunny**! Sorry! *hides* If you can, please review and favorite; Enjoy!

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Master Splinter nearly choked on his tea. It took a few back-pats and a lot of coughing to get him back to normal. Did his ears hear them correctly? Okay, there were a lot of things that happened in his day-to-day life that mostly never caught him by complete surprise, but this had to _take the cake_. Splinter looked into each of the turtles' eyes, all individually concerned over their father's sudden, uncharacteristic demeanor. Maybe it would be best to start from the very beginning?

Splinter was nothing but a rat in everyone's eyes, except his master, Yoshi. Instead of looking at him in disgust, and as a mindlessly simple rodent, he took him in as his pet. Looking back on it, Yoshi was one of the most honorable warriors in Japan in his time. He had women, responsibilities, and paperwork; So what time did he have for a pet, never mind a pet _rat_? Apparently more than anyone could guess. He took 'Splinter' everywhere he went, on missions, to the grocery store and Splinter's favorite, the forest. Splinter loved to mimic the motions of his master, what he later learned to be called _kata_. Yoshi found this to be hilariously endearing.

With all good things, there was an ending in means of his master being slain by Ch'rell himself, under the Shredder pseudonym. The day was ordinary as always, he was lying on his master's meditative thigh when there was a loud shattering as Shredder burst through the window. The lamp (which was a lit candelabrum) tipped over and began to burn the carpet, catching fire. Splinter squeaked from the terror and ran underneath a small dresser. He watched as his master fought Shredder but, as much as it angered Splinter's pride to admit, Yoshi was no match for the demon. In a futile attempt to save his injured master, Splinter jumped onto the demon's face and began scratching and gnawing at the metal. Of course he was thrown away and at a wall, to which after Shredder delivered the final blow into his master's stomach before exiting the same way he entered. Splinter collected his bearings before he ran to his master.

Splinter remembered Yoshi's skin getting paler than it already was and his eyes becoming distant. "You're so brave. I believe one day you'll become a master, too," Yoshi rasped out before laughing at his own obscurity but Splinter didn't care. He was more than happy to see his dying master give him one last laugh. "Sumimasen arigatou, Splinter-bo," With that, his master took his last breath.

When splinter mutated, he never thought he would become a father, or a master. He somehow traveled to New York on a cargo ship a few days after the murder. His simple life became something with purpose when Yoshi took him in. His purposeful life became something meaningful when the four turtles became humanoid as well. He would keep the name Splinter, as it gave him more humanity than a mutation ever would.

He had to scavenge to make ends meet, and had to go days without eating so that the turtles could. He was important in a new way for the very first time in his life. It was never instantaneous or something he ever thought about consciously, being a father. He was not a father ever before, and he was sure if he would procreate as a simple rat, he still wouldn't be a _father_. But somehow, with all these new features that the mutagen gave him, he was also a father, too. His love he felt for his Master Yoshi paled when it came to his love for his four sons. They were his new meaning, the reason he was anything in his present. They were his babies, his akachan.

When the tribunals asked that his sons be taken in as acolytes, his heart took a plunge. His children, to be trained by the same people who could have helped defeat the Shredder and save his Master? Even despite that, they wanted his sons- his _childre_ n- to become ninja masters far superior than he could ever believe? Or perhaps it was that their training would last as long as a year? Whatever question troubled him more did not matter because there was no possible way he would be able to say _yes_. He would have called the tribunals idiotic if he were not so adamant on respect.

"Master Splinter, are you alright?" asked Donatello, because _oh right_ he had just choked on his tea. The affirming words would not come because he couldn't lie. He was not alright, not even in the slightest. He didn't want his akachan to grow up. But they weren't children anymore; they know how to walk, and talk, to feed themselves, to train. They weren't teens with constantly changing hormones that made them rowdy and itching to go to the surface. They weren't –bo, or –kun anymore. They were grown men now, wanting to do important things. They wanted to help save the world.

"Master?" Leonardo asked now. Splinter swallowed his emotions down.

"My sons…" Splinter did not want to say yes. "You have my blessings."

They all smiled proudly, giving one another fist pounds before giving a long bow to their father. Splinter realized that in all these years, he has been formal in his affection, but not today. Not anymore. He stood up, placed the teacup down, and enveloped his children in the most emotional hug he could ever give. They would leave him without any doubt of the severity of his love for them. He was unsurprised when they hugged him back with the same love, each reassuring him that they would visit often and telling him everything they could about how much this meant to them, incoherently.

When they parted, they almost panicked at the tears that dampened their father's face until he smiled, "I have no doubt that you four will one day become masters, too." With one more "see you later" (never goodbye) the turtles were off to expand his master's legacy.

" _Sumimasen arigatou, Leonardo-bo, Raphael-bo, Donatello-bo, Michelangelo-bo."_


End file.
